In this first film version of William Shakespeare's classic pastoral comedy, Sir Laurence Olivier stars as Orlando while Elisabeth Bergner is Rosalind, his secret admirer who disguises herself as a boy in order to stay near to him.
Nearly all of the actors involved had performed the work on stage previously, adding to the stellar overall performance.
A particular highlight is Olivier's magnificent delivery of the famous "All the world's a stage..." monologue.


This movie is part of the collection: Feature Films

Director: Paul Czinner
Producer: Paul Czinner, Joseph M. Schenck
Production Company: Inter-Allied Film Producers Ltd.
Audio/Visual: sound, black & white
Keywords: Drama; Comedy; Romance; Elisabeth Bergner; Laurence Olivier
Contact Information: www.k-otic.com

Creative Commons license: Public Domain Mark 1.0

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Reviewer: rclo - - June 13, 2012
Subject: Wrong Olivier
The descriptor of the film states: "A particular highlight is Olivier's magnificent delivery of the famous 'All the world's a stage...' monologue."
Sorry, that's not Olivier. However, the film does showcasethe young Olivier's stunning good looks.

On the story, itself, it requires extreme suspension of disbelief to accept that any man could be fooled by the object of his desires into not recognizing her even though her only "disguise" is men's clothing. She still wears lipstick, for crying out loud. Add to that, her feminine voice and, as noted, distinctive accent, and I found myself wondering if Olivier's character was just playing along with her.

This must have been a hoot in Shakespeare's day, when men played all of the parts - a man playing a woman pretending to be a man acting as a proxy for a woman.

Reviewer: ppcraig - - December 25, 2011
Subject: Bergner is wonderful
Bergner's been forgotten in modern times. I was struck by her wonderful accent -- which reviewers of the time didn't like, and which I didn't initially realize is German. She's the star of the show. Olivier is great. Bergner is even greater

Reviewer: lonelee1 - - March 1, 2011
Subject: wonderful print lovely production
wonderful print lovely production
spend an easy hour in the forest of arden
does anyone know anything about this beautiful castle?